A song for all communities

Who is forcing the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind to sing Vande Mataram? They don’t want to sing it but want to make an issue of it! I don’t understand the business of passing a resolution against singing the national song.

Not that I agree with these people for a moment, but I must accept that I am aware of the historical background of this controversy. This song was a part of the novel written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay called Anand Math, published in 1882. In that novel, all villains were Muslims and in the end the writer thanks God that Britishers have come to save them from malech Muslims.

This song had four stanzas; the first two glorifying the motherland and the third and fourth were in praise of a religious deity. Obviously this was not acceptable to the conservative Muslim groups. While the song was zestfully taken up by the Hindu Mahasabha and then by RSS etc.; to sort out the issue, the religious stanzas were dropped by the Congress much before independence. That should have been the logical end to the controversy whatsoever.

Today the opposition to Vande Mataram, because singing praises to a deity is against the monotheistic concept of Islam, is thus redundant and irrelevant, and that is why I fail to understand why these objections were raised in the first instance. Is the Jamiat short on issues?

In any case, I honestly believe that with time, this song has outgrown Anand Math, Mahasabha and RSS. Today this song has its own identity. It has come far ahead and has become a national song in the real sense.

National symbols and songs like Vande Mataram unite a country like nothing else does. It evokes strong emotions in me. I myself have used Vande Mataram in three of my songs- in Priyadarshan's Saza-e-Kala Pani, in Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani and for an anthem that's taken up by the military academy at Dehradun.

I think this issue is being raised by those who want to get noticed. These people seem to feel marginalized and want to tell the society that they also exist. I wish they would indulge in something positive to get noticed.

At the same time, there is no doubt that there can’t be any one decided way of expressing love for the motherland. While no one should have any problem in singing Vande Mataram, those who want to enforce it are not being fair either. In the US, there is a sect called Jehovah's Witnesses and they believe that singing the national song is against their faith. The American society lets them be.

I really feel surprised that in a society where there are huge problems like poverty, education, health, infrastructure, whether a song should be sung or not becomes a matter of national debate!

I am happy to note that the common man is getting tired of fundamentalists, political leaders as well as the media who rake up such non-issues all the time. We need fresh blood and a rational approach to make India a superpower.

To that I would say- Vande Mataram!